Posted on 10/16/2005 3:08:35 AM PDT by HAL9000
LONDON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday that Iraqis had probably approved a U.S.-backed draft constitution in a historic referendum, a vote she said could reduce insurgent violence."Most people assume on the ground that it probably has passed," Rice told reporters during a visit to London.
Rice hailed the turnout, particularly in Sunni Arab areas, where she said there had been a large increase in voter numbers compared to parliamentary elections in January.
Basing her figures on reports from officials in Iraq, the top U.S. diplomat said the overall turnout was about 63-64 percent, which was also higher than in January.
In Saturday's referendum, voters were asked whether they approved a controversial draft constitution drawn up under the supervision of Iraq's Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led government in the face of opposition from Sunni Arabs.
Although the national vote is certain to approve the constitution by a wide margin, the charter can be vetoed if two-thirds of voters in three provinces reject it.
With a two-thirds "No" vote likely in the strongly Sunni Arab provinces of Anbar and Salahadin, attention is focussing on Nineveh which has a large Sunni Arab population but also large numbers of Kurds who broadly back the constitution.
It was something of a gamble, to put everything out there on the table, and there is not much point in counting your winnings until the dealing's done.
Theoretically, failure to gain approval of the proposed constitution would send the issue back to the acting parliament, for rewriting as necessary. Practically, lack of approval this round raises the spectre of partition of Iraq into at least two, and possible three, factions. Eking out a 'win' for the acceptance of the proposed constitution only keeps the play going, and there STILL is not a stable government strong enough by itself to be launched without the continuing presence of the coalition forces.
Nobody is coming home from Iraq just yet.
Yet another vote in December. How many more till we come home ?
I was very pessimistic that it had low chance to pass due to the interference of Sunni and some other minorities that may have blocked, including Sadr's followers. There were also some of the Kurds and Shiite Iraqis which were not happy for not getting everything, or something they did not like. However, after comments from Iraqi officials commenting in anonymity to the press, it seems that it is more likely it has passed.
From Japan? Korea? Germany? Bosnia? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Were's the remote, change the channel.
BUMP!
I love hurling that point in the face of liberals at work. Couldn't get a better reaction if I hit them with a frying pan.
Read some American history. We had the Articles of Confederation for a long time before our U. S. Constitution was gotten done. Iraq will get this done faster than we did because they have US and History to help them. Our PEOPLE in uniform are doing a OUTSTANDING JOB. God Bless America and ALL of our PEOPLE serving America.
Don't forget the charges that American companies sold materials to the Germans that were used to build the gas chambers. I don't know if it's true or not but the issue has been used to demonize America for years.
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